Google CEO's family foundation buys Island Spirits for NRTA hub

Friday

Oct 26, 2007 at 2:00 AM

By Jason Graziadei I&M Assistant Editor

Just over a month after island voters rejected a proposal for the town to purchase the former Island Spirits lot on Washington Street, the property was sold Tuesday by the Reith family for $3.5 million to Greenhound, LLC, an entity controlled by Nantucket summer residents Eric and Wendy Schmidt.

The Schmidt Family Foundation, a nonprofit group specializing in historic preservation, green building and environmentally-sound transportation solutions, will assume ownership of the property. The foundation intends to transform the site into a transportation hub for the Nantucket Regional Transit Authority, or NRTA, and adopt the concept that town leaders had proposed for the property earlier this year.

Eric Schmidt is the CEO of Google, the extremely successful Internet search engine, while his wife, Wendy Schmidt, is the president of the foundation that will guide the redevelopment of the property.

“Many in the community have felt the former Island Spirits property is perfectly located to provide a much-needed transportation hub for the island,” Wendy Schmidt said in a press release. “The foundation wanted to provide the Board of Selectmen and the NRTA every opportunity to create this vital piece of public infrastructure.”

Earlier this year, town leaders pitched a similar plan for an NRTA hub at the Island Spirits property, contingent upon the town acquiring the parcel for $3.5 million from the former owners, Bill and Carol Reith. While two-thirds of those who attended a Special Town Meeting in July approved the spending, a $1 million debt exclusion override that would have sealed the purchase was overwhelmingly defeated at the polls last month.

“Local officials and residents agree on the need for a transportation hub which will be a gateway to the historic district,” Wendy Schmidt said. “I believe the referendum was about the use of public resources to acquire the property, not about the need. By purchasing the property and agreeing to work with the local officials, the Schmidt Family Foundation has taken that issue off the table. Now we can focus entirely on providing the community much-needed transportation services.”

The foundation hopes to utilize “green technologies” in the construction of the transit center and in the NRTA’s fleet of shuttle buses by adding the “latest in environmentally-friendly vehicles,” according to the press release.

“The foundation is very focused on bringing the most advanced green transportation and building techniques to urban and suburban communities,” said Schmidt, who is also the founder of the “11th Hour Project,” a group which is “focused on raising public awareness about global warming and promoting sustainable solutions to climate change,” according to its web site.

It was unclear whether the Island Spirits property would be leased to the NRTA or gifted to the town by the Schmidts, however, the foundation’s press release stated that the foundation would “make the former Island Spirits property available for use by the NRTA.” The conversion of the site into a transit hub would likely require the removal or partial demolition of the current structures, Planning Department director Andrew Vorce said, and would require permits from the Building Department and the Historic District Commission. Vorce, along with NRTA administrator Paula Leary and transportation planner Mike Burns, all endorsed the concept of a transit center on the Island Spirits site.

“The NRTA’s mission has and continues to be to alleviate downtown traffic congestion and create downtown parking opportunities,” Leary said. “Downtown is the core of the island, it’s where the majority of ridership is generated, where the majority of island businesses, institutions, such as the library, churches, historic sites and government offices are. The transit system connects the rest of the island to its core, with numerous stops and park-and-ride lots in the mid-island area. The opportunity to utilize 10-12 Washington Street as a hub is an asset to the NRTA and the community.”

In 2007, Leary said the NRTA recorded 250,995 total passenger boardings, and that during the summer months, the shuttles provided service for 2,800 to 3,500 passengers per day. While some voters said any transit center should be located in the mid-island area rather than downtown during the Town Meeting debate and the run-up to the ballot-vote earlier this year, Leary said a downtown location was ideal.

“A transit hub in the mid island area makes no sense,” Leary said. “It would create an undue burden to riders by creating a need for transfers and decrease ridership, isolate downtown, and be a detriment to the success of the NRTA. There needs to be an understanding of what a public transit user wants - that is frequency and seamless trips.

The longer it takes, the more difficult it is for riders to get to their destination the less likely they are to use public transit and they look for other options – driving their personal vehicle and parking downtown.” Burns agreed.

“I think this concept is an exciting opportunity,” Burns said. “It will get the buses off the street and frees up about 15 on-street parking spaces. One of the arguments to not do this was the desire to have a mid-island transit hub, but we discussed that during the mid-island planning process and it was dismissed then because we didn’t want the mid-island to be the hub. We wanted downtown to be the hub. We’ve already evaluated that and dismissed it early on a few years ago.”

Vorce said he hoped the site could accommodate the NRTA shuttles in some way as early as next summer. While it may not be a permanent arrangement, Vorce predicted the property would be ready, at least on an interim basis, to serve as the NRTA hub. He said the Schmidt’s purchase of the property and stated intent for its use was a unique opportunity for Nantucket.

“In this case it’s a private (acquisition), but it’s almost a philanthropic arrangement,” Vorce said. “It’s probably unique to Nantucket and I think it’s something we should be grateful for. It’s an exciting opportunity. We’ve put so much money into protecting open space and historic preservation, and those things should continue, but there’s a new recognition about putting money into protecting things in the town to make it continue to run well.”

In the weeks leading up to the ballot vote in which the municipal acquisition of the Island Spirits property failed, selectmen Whitey Willauer and Michael Kopko, as well as several concerned citizens, all raised concerns about the purchase, including questions about whether the $3.5 million purchase price was too high, the plan for the transit hub, and the contamination of the site from its former use as a gas station.

That former use led to it being designated as a “B2” site by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). According to the DEP, a B2 site does not require remedial actions because a level of “No Significant Risk” exists for that property as long as it is utilized in accordance with an “Activity and Use Limitation” or AUL study.

In 1999, James O’Brien, a licensed site professional, completed an AUL for the Island Spirits site which stated that the permitted uses included the operation of retail stores, commercial offices and vehicle parking, provided there is no disturbance of the ground soil.

Windwalker Real Estate owner Alan Worden, who is serving as the lead real estate consultant for the Schmidts, addressed the concerns about the site in the press release about the family’s purchase.

“Several citizens questioned the town’s purchase of the property prior to the referendum, citing ‘unanswered questions’ about the property,” Worden said. “Thanks to the Schmidt Family Foundation, we now have the time and opportunity to work with local officials to further develop these important ideas and to answer any open questions about the project. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity and the Foundation is committed to getting it just right.”

The press release goes on to state that the Schmidt Family Foundation “supports efforts, using best expert information, to help transform the world’s environmental and energy practices in the 21st century. The mission, at its broadest, is to advance the creation of an increasingly intelligent relationship between human activity and the use of the world’s natural resources.”

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